Lucy and the Baron wasted no time in searching for the next key after that, ignoring every shop and attraction of the carnival no matter how much it pained her to do so.
Indeed, the next part of the riddle was at the forefront of her mind:
Time remains in steps unseen.
It was as vague as the previous clue had been. And while the portion of the riddle pertaining to the key of life had ended with a rather literal answer, Lucy hadn't the slightest idea if this would be the same.
"What do you suppose it means?" she asked suddenly, "The bit about unseen steps."
"Could it be yet another clue to a shop of some kind?"
"I doubt Azrael would hide the keys in a shop twice. Oz said he enjoys a variety of trickeries."
Nevertheless, in the end they did not ignore the possibility, searching both shops and other various attractions that might have any similar meaning to the riddle; shops that sold items granting invisibility, a tent who's interior was filled with merely mirrors and staircases leading nowhere that one could become lost among. And, once, a carousel laden with twelve silver horses who's hooves never touched the ground as they galloped suspended upon poles.
Yet none of these things revealed a clue, and after nearly an hour of searching, her feet aching and her mind muddled with far too many thoughts, Lucy had begun to grow desperate.
"I need a moment," she told the Baron wearily, "I need to sit.... To think."
Giving only a nod in reply, the two found a bench upon which they might rest, the conversation between them dwindling off to an awkward quiet.
Yet such silence did not remain for long. For as they basked in the light of the moon the pressing matter of finding the keys alleviated for but a moment as the magic of the carnival whirled around them, Lucy heard the Baron speak once more. His words hesitant as though they had weighed upon his mind for quite some time, yet he had the courage to say them only now.
"Thank you," he whispered. "For all of this."
The words took Lucy aback, her own words sounding just as uncertain as his had. "What do you mean?"
He shrugged, seemingly embarrassed by the topic at hand. "For trying to bring me back."
"What was I supposed to do? Leave you dead? A good lady such as myself wouldn't dream of it. In any case, why do you speak of it now?"
"Well... It had to be said. Perhaps I would have done so earlier, yet you were rather preoccupied drinking strange potions and falling unconscious." he looked to her then, his gentle gaze boring into her with a sincerity that made her heart flutter ever so slightly. "Truly, Miss Caramonte, I am grateful. I don't know many others who would do such a thing for me."
A prick of guilt struck Lucy, her chest tightening at the thought that, had it not been for her own hesitance in saving the Baron's life to begin with, she never would have crossed beyond those silver gates. Yet of this she said nothing, studying the ground before them as he continued, her eyes roaming over the silver specks of the stars in the blackness.
Yet as the Baron went on and she drew deeper within her study of the path to avoid her guilt, she saw something more; the flecks of starlight upon the path weaving together in a manner far stranger than what might be considered natural. Forming shapes she swore had not been there prior in the night.
It was almost imperceptible-- a reflection of the light from a precise angle of the moon, now far bolder as the glow from the lanterns around them were far dimmer than what they had been earlier within the night. Indeed when Lucy tilted her head once more, the shapes disappeared, only to reappear as she tilted her head back to the previous alignment.
She stood, startling the Baron from whatever sweet words he might have said next, her attention now fully trained upon the shapes littering the path before her. Her steps angled one way, then another till the shapes came into view once more and she saw them for what they were.
Footprints of silver stardust.
Upon the path before her they stretched onward seemingly at random, and when at last Lucy called the Baron's attention to them, they knew at once this must be some answer to the riddle.
"It could mean nothing else." the Baron said, "They'll lead us to the next key."
"Yet why do they appear in a pattern so strange?"
For a moment he remained silent, and Lucy watched as his eyes roamed studiously over the flecks of silver illuminated before them. His eyes lighting up a moment later with an answer. "It's the sort of steps one might take in a dance... They want us to dance."
"Don't be absurd. We'll simply follow them as though it were a normal path..."
Yet the words faded from her lips as she stepped forward, the footsteps vanishing as the angle of the light changed ever so slightly.
Indeed, one could only see the silver prints if they were followed exactly as the Baron had said-- in a waltz that took them through the carnival.
A step to the left, then the right, left, left, right again.... Round and round they spun to a silent tune, their movements awkward at first as they grew accustomed to one another's bodies. For the Baron was far taller than her, Lucy realized, his steps covering far more width than her own till she scampered to keep up with him.
"You needn't take leaps and bounds," she said.
"Well, perhaps you ought to try a bit harder."
There was a bit of bumping of elbows and stepping on shoes then, yet after a moment both realized that the steps upon the ground that lead them were of a width that suited them both-- a compromise of being not too close to one another, nor too far away. They simply had to come to an agreement.
And once an agreement was made, they could truly dance.
........................................
YOU ARE READING
The Mortal And The Wicked-- ONC 2023
FantasyONC 2023 Shortlister His features had haunted her for years; a boy with silver eyes peering out from beneath a mask of bone. His body cloaked in darkness, a wicked grin upon his lips that spoke of treachery-- a smile that had broken countless hearts...
